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The Silence of the FFFFers

It’s been nearly two weeks since Friends for Fullerton’s Future webmaster and short-time councilman Travis Kiger was defeated by “Landslide” Jan Flory by a whopping 29 votes. There was no recount as Kiger likely didn’t have the money to pay for it and Tony Bushala — someone who could afford to — decided not to write a check for it (photo above courtesy of RestoreSanityToFullerton blog). So Kiger, who missed his last city council meeting, is out of office as is former State Assemblyman Chris Norby — not that you’d know it by any posts on the Friends for Fullerton’s Future blog.

Since the outcomes became no longer in doubt, the Blog, that has several more bloggers than this one covering a much smaller footprint of OC, has covered the election results not a single time. Four of the past six posts are nasty posts about the Fullerton Police Department, one based on a Yahoo story on how California is the worst run state in the nation, a dig at new State Rep. Sharon Quirk-Silva, and some “Greatest Hits” material. What Bushala and company might not realize is that the changes brought about in the November election are the unintended consequences of nastiness the bloggers and commenters spew at those who disagree with them. Now there’s no question that Bushala, Kiger and FFFF have strong support in Fullerton, but it isn’t as strong as they think and Fullerton residents went to the polls to demonstrate just who’s in charge.

Before the June primary, conservatives dominated the Fullerton city council 4-1. After the primary, BushalaNation had a 3-2 majority. After November, it’s 3-2 Republicans and 3-2 anti-Bushala. Fullerton residents took their city back. And the silence is pretty deafening. Now readers here will note that Republicans took control of Irvine on election day and we had a post about it the next day. But it seems that Bushala & Company are still in denial about the election and all.

Readers in Fullerton have posted here happily about the outcome of the Flory-Kiger race and Quirk-Silva’s victory because they can do so without being accused on being members of the FPD union or waitresses at the SlideBar.

So please comment away readers from Fullerton. Did TeamBushala lose a battle or lose the war? Will Kiger run again? Is Chris Thompson the next elected official in Fullerton with a target on his back?

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13 comments for “The Silence of the FFFFers”

Gene V.

December 4, 2012 at 9:24 am

For what it’s worth, some have noticed a similar silence and dearth of posts at Emami and Nguyen’s OC Political blog. Said to be the voice of the OC GOP, I count only seven posts since mid-November, and many of them are reprints of press releases or news stories. I guess elections do have consequences.

someone on that blog did a nice job of Photoshop; full credit was given

Ryan Cantor

December 4, 2012 at 2:44 pm

Actually, it’s in very poor taste. More so given Ms. Flory’s breast feeding comment and the description from the source website: “A photo that was found on the Internet recently. This shows the corrupt and twisted nature of Kingmaker Tony Bushala and his puppet butt-boy Travis Kiger”

I find it hard to believe that theLiberalOC would be so willing to fuel the fire, particularly given the blatantly homophobic slur that accompanied the photo. Please remove it.

Ryan, there is no homophobic slur in my post nor is there one on the image. You are not an editor here. I’ll remind you the FFFF guys regularly run the photo of Jan Flory when she participated in a drunk driving education session to portray her as a lush. Will you demand that they stop using that photo? I don;’t agree with Tony Bushala on much but I think his ego is tough enough to handle this image with a sense of humor.

Ryan Cantor

December 4, 2012 at 3:45 pm

Whatever floats your boat, Dan. I’d have a hard time sleeping if I linked to a photo that used a homophobic slur in its description. If you can live with it, fine. I think your justification and willingness to ignore the source material is flimsy at best.

I also wasn’t aware I needed to be an editor to challenge inappropriate posts made by authors on your blog. Perhaps you should run a disclaimer. I don’t think we need to get off on the wrong foot (again). The facts are what they are, and if you don’t feel morally compelled to remove your link to the offending post or to the image, that’s your business. Your readers are entitled to judge you accordingly. I also don’t see what FFFF’s bad behavior has to do with anything. I think you’re well aware that any demands that I make (or anyone else makes) regarding actions over at FFFF are almost always universally ignored– so let’s not try to label me a hypocrite. Weak sauce, sir.

That aside, this is still done in really poor taste in light of Ms. Flory’s insensitive comment on breast feeding.

I agree that Tony likely doesn’t care or finds it funny, but don’t know him well at all.

Dan Chmielewski

December 4, 2012 at 7:09 pm

Ryan. I am not responsible for content on other blogs. This image used is an ideal example of satire. Anything Ms. flory has said about breast feeding pales in relation to things written about her on other sites. You have selective outrage. I’m not sure you’ve ever made demands at FFFF but your not the “taste police” and I’m not about to take down a satirical image because you don’t like it.

Ryan Cantor

December 4, 2012 at 9:29 pm

Selective outrage? Quite the stretch, sir. Completely unfounded, which doesn’t make the rest of your argument look any better.

Heads up: Two wrongs don’t make a right. I don’t know why you keep using: “But FFFF did X, so that must mean that behavior Y is OK.”

Uphold a higher standard. Whomever composed that graphic posted it with a homophobic slur. You turned around and linked to said slur.

That sucks, Dan. Justify it however you want, but don’t blame anyone but yourself for how it reflects on you or your moral compass.

Hypocrisy Police

December 4, 2012 at 11:35 pm

What amazes me with your hypocrisy Ryan is you fault Dan for doing exactly what the FFFF bloggers do on a daily basis, times 10. They make images like that picture seem lightweight. You try to tell Dan two wrongs don’t make a right, but none of us see you doing that to Tony Bushala or calling him to task. In fact you only seem to pop up whenever there is a post ripping on Bushala. So don’t come trying to act like a concerned citizen trying to lecture us on a moral compass. I have no problem with you ripping Dan, but be honest about your intentions. Just call yourself what you are, an FFFF apologist and cheerleader, or heck we will accept you calling yourself Tony’s B_tch.

Ryan Cantor

December 5, 2012 at 8:22 am

Anon– I’m not exactly sure what you’re accusing me of. Not openly criticizing FFFF here, on OJ, or on FFFF? If you’d like to actually make a clear accusation instead of throwing stones, I’m happy to address it.

I haven’t done anything that warrants you, hiding behind a nameless rock, calling me someone’s bitch. That’s the type of thing that FFFF is famous for. Perhaps you should keep your comments there.

I find you ignoring Dan’s linking to a homophobic slur rather telling, particularly given your ad-homonym against me . . . I’d be embarrassed to attach my real name to your comment, too. I’d be embarrassed to be a coward as well, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping you.

It couldn’t possibly be that our antipathy with Mrs. Flory is because she has always been a mean, vindictive harpy with a trail of votes that have cost the taxpayers of Fullerton a fortune, now could it?

The very last thing they want is a small government advocate like Chris Norby. Think OC Business Council and you will understand that these people have no interest in anything other than a smoothly run plantation. You and I are the coolies that make the thing run for the benefit of our overseers.

Look up the term “coolies” Ryan.

Ryan Cantor

December 5, 2012 at 8:30 am

Am I stuttering when I type or something? For the love of . . .

FFFF does a lot of really, really, stupid stuff. Their bad behavior does not justify someone else’s bad behavior. Why is that such a complicated concept?

Also, for the record: Flory and SQS won. I think that’s as much of a critique on FFFF as is necessary. Don’t you agree?

Ryan —
again, just because the original site the image came from had a homophobic slur doesn’t taint the image which does not and my post which does not.

We’ve run photoshopped images of Steve Choi as Kim Jong Il, Jerry Amante as Gadaffi (pick your spelling as there are several), Michele Martinez as “Snooki,” Steven Greenhut as Jabba the Hut, and John Moorlach as Chicken Little.

It’s called parody.

But perhaps the FFPC should look into how much coordination occured between Travis’ campaign and Mr. Bushala’s PAC?